Sunadokei
by BlingBling021
Summary: Ryou’s feelings during the battle ceremony between Yami and Yugi, coming to terms with the of Bakura. In one way or another, however…Bakura still lives on. Oneshot.


Disclaimer: Not mine.

Warnings: None, really. Not AU, but canon with a twist. Can be seen as YYxY (I guess), and maybe BxR, but it doesn't have to be.

Setting: This is Ryou's point of view during the last episodes of the YuGiOh series, starting when he wakes up where his body was left on the stairs (in the crypt containing the entrance to Memory World).

Sunadokei means sandglass, or hourglass.

Dedication: To the premature of Bakura at the end of the series, which cheated him out of his revenge. He didn't even get to kill Akunadin…

Inspiration: Seeing Ryou watch as Yugi placed the Sennen Ring into the stone.

Notes: This fic was weird for me because it's not exactly romance, so I hope it's not terrible. I know it's not my best, but I wanted to post something for the end of YuGiOh… You can decide how to take the end of this, though I did not write it as Bakura coming back from the . It was more as Ryou taking on Bakura's feelings in the absence of their bond.

Please read and review.

oXoXoXoXoXo

Sunadokei

oXoXoXoXoXo

**#_An hourglass_.#**

Consciousness came back to him in a rush of sound and color—the sound being that of excited voices not far in the distance, and the color being that of cold blue-gray stone. He blinked a few times for his eyes to adjust, rubbing the spot where he guessed he must have hit his head when he collapsed. His stomach growled.

After a moment of listening to the voices echo up to him through the dark passageway, he drew his hand back from his skull and inspected it. No . Well, that was at least one good thing.

'_I hope Yugi and the others came back okay_…' The thought drifted across his mind absently, but he immediately caught himself and stopped short, waiting expectantly to be reprimanded.

No one spoke.

For the first time in years, he was the only one inside his head.

He sucked his breath through his teeth, nervous from the silence. Not that he didn't know what had happened, that he hadn't felt for months what was coming.

He tried again tentatively, wanting to make absolutely sure that the dark spirit was actually gone.

'_A true King of Thieves wouldn't come back empty-handed_.'

………

Nothing. No boasts, no snide comments or rude remarks. Ryou swallowed with some difficulty, as his mouth was quite dry, and gave it one last shot for good measure.

'_I'm in love with the Pharaoh_.'

It wasn't true, of course, but Ryou figured that if he was still alive in five seconds, a sure fact had been confirmed.

He was alone.

Emotions churned inside of him at this revelation, and he struggled to make them out. Happiness? …No, he wasn't happy.

He wasn't happy at all.

Sadness, then? …No, not quite that either. What could it—?

_Emptiness_.

Ryou jolted so hard he almost ed his skull on the wall of the stairway. His hands darted to the Ring, running over its surfaces and tracing its contours rapidly, needily.

Cold. .

A piece of metal, nothing more.

Yet Ryou could have _sworn_ it had just spoken to him. His breathing was harsh, and as he waited for it to calm down he pondered the word he had been given.

Emptiness. Yes.

That's what he was now.

Empty.

Suddenly the voices from below increased in volume, as if moving closer. Jonouchi's distinctive drawl could be heard within the chorus of noise, and Ryou sighed. It was time to put on a show.

Hefting himself up onto his feet and wobbling dangerously from the pins and needles that assaulted him upon such action, he descended the steps and pretended to know nothing, calling out for food as everyone expected him to. He _was_ quite tired. The had pooled in his head from the angle he'd been draped on the stairway, and he felt his eyelids weigh down.

Ryou could barely stand, much less fight tooth and nail as the Ring was wrested from him and he was boarded onto a boat and fed, a pang echoing in his heart.

During the hours of water transportation, he watched Yugi from afar. He watched the Pharaoh's vessel hide the nervousness and fear rising within himself as he tried to grasp the concept of what was about to happen. He watched Yugi fight down the tears that repeatedly welled up behind his eyes as the predicted consequences of the impending events became more and more clear.

It gave Ryou satisfaction.

He was surprised at this, to say the least. He'd expected to feel sympathy, knowing how it must feel for Yugi to be separated from the soul that had bonded with his own for so long, the despair and pain and disorientation that would follow.

After all, Ryou had felt those same emotions more than once.

Ryou paused, then let his feet resume carrying him off the ship and to the duel site. Dark steps. A passageway, musty with the scent of age and . Another underground tomb.

Where exactly had he felt those emotions before…? Ryou looked down guiltily, knowing he'd felt them every time Bakura had been taken away from him in the past.

Was it so wrong? Bakura was a thief and a er, yes, but…Bakura, at least, had always been there to protect him.

Suddenly, Ryou frowned. What attention did any of the people walking in front of him ever pay to anyone that wasn't a _threat_? Was there anything guaranteeing him their friendship after all this was over?

A dry chamber. A pharonic slab, recesses hewn into it to accommodate shaped gold. A shiver down the spines of everyone present.

The stone sat quietly before them, passive, unmoving. The one that the _real_ Bakura had sat on top of three thousand years before, mourning the of his loved ones, seeking solace among the spirits, plotting the of a Pharaoh and the fall of an empire…

Ryou swallowed thickly, breath coming a little thin.

…How he wished he could have seen it…

But of course, he had been left behind once again.

The Puzzle wielder stepped forward, unzipping his bag and carefully removing the precious golden contents, returning them one by one to their resting places.

Eye… Ankh… Scales… Rod… Tauk…

As Yugi placed the Ring into it's slot, Ryou felt a surge of unabated hatred course through him.

_Mine_.

The Puzzle he inserted last, then everything was lost in a white light. Yugi's shadow split in two, as did his soul. Two figures stood before them all.

And, with barely a glance at each other, they turned and walked to opposite ends of the field.

'Is it really so easy for you, Pharaoh?' Ryou sneered within his mind, feeling heat burn where the Ring should have been laying against his chest. 'Is it really that simple to just turn away?'

The battle began, and Ryou cheered for Yugi. He joined the others in their encouragement, singing Yugi's praises with all of his heart, and it wasn't for the reason he thought it would be.

What was best for the Pharaoh? Honestly…he found that he couldn't care less.

So they could all move on with life? No…he didn't want them to move on. Ever.

What Ryou really wanted, what he wanted more than anything else, was for the wielders of the Sennen Puzzle to know what it felt like to be _alone_.

To be empty.

The difficult battle came to its close. A door opened, signifying to one of the proud souls on the field that the end had come.

Tears slid down in rivers from violet eyes, coursing over pale cheeks to drop and smash into globules upon the sand.

The group to the side called their deepest farewells. Ryou could not bring one to pass his lips. He felt something stir inside of him, twisting around his essence. It was not an evil spirit, nor a remnant of Bakura.

This was an emotion of his own.

Chocolate orbs darkened. Canines elongated. A shadow fell over pale skin.

The Pharaoh turned back for once last glance, and his eyes locked on deep garnet pools. Crimson orbs widened.

The smirk of a thief and a er crossed Ryou's lips.

'_Now, it's your turn to bleed_.'

And the Pharaoh was gone.

oXo Owari oXo


End file.
